By Chris DiFrancesco, PWTorch contributor

HITS

Team Hell No & New Day vs. SAnity & The Bludgeon Brothers: It was a car crash, yet fun to watch. The Bludgeon Brothers and Sanity were a good mix as were their counterparts. Six-, eight-, and ten-man tag matches can get kind of crazy and hard to watch but this one more than held the interest of the live crowd. I enjoyed the moments watching Eric Young and Daniel Bryan as these two moved 100 mph and the crowd was hot for them. Big E is another one who moves at lightning pace for a big guy. He is a battering ram when he gets a chance to deliver some offense. Bryan won the match for his team after nailing Young with the flying knee.

A.J. Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: Yes, these two have wrestled countless times with Styles taking the majority of the decisions. However, it’s still magic to watch these two studs wrestle inside that 20×20 ring. I feel this was one of their better one-on-one matchups based on the lack of pressure attached to it. With Styles defending his WWE Title against Rusev on Sunday at Extreme Rules, his matchup against Nakamura didn’t have the hype as the previous ones, but it was a great match between these rivals. Styles won the match via disqualification thanks to inference by Rusev on the outside. In addition, Rusev’s color commentary during this match was pure gold. He showed charisma, comedy, and confidence. Rusev is surely making the most of this recent push.

Kane quoting N’Sync: During a backstage promo with The New Day and Team Hell No, Kane used N’Sync’s ‘This I Promise You’ lyrics as motivational speech. It was relevant, surprising, and hilarious. Well done.

Andrade Cien Almas vs. Sin Cara: Tremendous lucha type match. Sin Cara put in arguably his greatest performance, which may speak to the talent level of Almas. Almas was big time in NXT, and only time will tell if he can carry it over to the main roster but if this match is any indication than he is primed for big things.

MISSES

Asuka vs. James Ellsworth: I’m tired of harping on these two; however, if this storyline continues to be featured on Smackdown Live, then I have a duty to discuss it. It was just poor. It was sloppy with no heat. The crowd begged for it to be over. Women’s Champ Carmella got some heat back after superkicking Asuka after she made Ellsworth tap out.

FINAL THOUGHTS…

A strong go-home episode of Smackdown Live before heading to Pittsburgh for Extreme Rules. The crowd was alive form start to finish. The only “Miss” of the night in my opinion was the Asuka-Ellsworth segment. Other than that, I really can’t classify anything as a “Miss.” Smackdown outshines Raw almost every week and it’s becoming increasingly obvious which brand is the “A show” for viewers.